


Warmth and Safety

by randi2204



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Implied Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-03 02:52:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11523003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randi2204/pseuds/randi2204
Summary: JD  notices something that gets him to thinking.





	Warmth and Safety

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JoJo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoJo/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** The pretty cowboys belong to MGM, Mirisch, and Trilogy, not to me.

JD sat in one of the chairs outside the jail, his feet propped up on the one opposite, hands folded comfortably across his stomach, like he’d often seen Vin do.  For once, nothing was happening; the street was practically deserted, the jail empty, the other fellows each about their own business, whatever that happened to be.  Hell, there wasn’t even a breeze to stir up any dust devils in the street.

There wasn’t even a stage due in for a couple of days, so he wasn’t surprised when Ezra stepped out of the saloon, saddlebags slung over his shoulder.  Ezra touched the brim of his hat when he saw JD, then set off toward the livery, not hurrying, but not dawdling, either.  A few minutes later, Ezra led his horse from the stable, swung up, and set off out of town.

JD slouched down further in his chair, bored.  _I wonder if I could take a nap like this,_ he wondered.  He wasn’t particularly tired, but… well, a nap might make the time pass a little faster. _Not like I’m wishing for bank robbers or anything,_ he added quickly.  _Just..._ something _to do would be nice…_

He must have actually dozed off, because the next thing he knew, he heard the jingle of tack and spurs, and Chris’s voice saying “Hey, JD.”

Blinking, he straightened in the chair, back protesting, and saw Chris leaning over his saddle horn, lips twitching as if he was fighting not to grin.  “Hey, Chris.  Heading out?”

“Yeah,” Chris replied, straightening as his horse shifted beneath him.  “Got some things to take care of.  Be back in a couple days.”

“Hope it stays quiet here, then,” JD said, and creaked his way out of the chair to stand leaning against the post for the boardwalk overhang.  “What with you _and_ Ezra gone.”

“Ezra’s gone?” Fury chose that moment to sidle, as if Chris was getting worked up over Ezra not being there and his horse was reacting to it.  “He say where he was goin’?”

“Naw, just rode off that way a while ago.” His attention on Fury, JD waved toward the livery in the direction he’d seen Ezra heading.  “I figured it was because the stage isn’t due in for a couple of days and he wanted to play some poker.”  He put his hand on Fury’s nose, and the horse stilled, though JD could hear him mouthing the bit. 

“Yeah, I suppose,” Chris said.  He sounded calm, and when JD glanced up at him again, he seemed… almost amused.  “Well, it’s not like it ain’t happened before, and I reckon nothin’ much is gonna happen in the next couple days.  You’ll be fine.”  He tugged on the reins, and Fury turned obligingly back onto the street.

“See ya when ya get back!” JD called after him, and grinned as Chris raised a hand.  Before too long, the big black horse disappeared from view, and JD turned his attention to the chair once more.

He’d just gotten comfortable once more when something Chris said struck him.  _It’s true,_ he thought, staring off over the tops of the buildings across the street, _he and Ezra_ have _been out of town at the same time before.  In fact,_ he continued slowly, _it seems like it’s happened a lot…_

He started counting up all the times when, like today, Ezra went off to another town to gamble and Chris headed up to his cabin.  _Today… twice last month… oh, no, one of them was when they were escorting a prisoner to Yuma… Huh.  Chris has been doin’ that a lot, too, takin’ Ezra with him when he’s deliverin’ a prisoner._ His brow furrowed a little as he started considering that, too.  _All right, if you count takin’ prisoners to other places when it’s just the two of them, they’ve both been out of town at the same time even more often than I thought._

 _Guess they like each other after all,_ JD decided. _They take all those prisoner transfers together and don’t come back any worse for the wear.  Doesn’t seem like they’re at each other’s throat all the time anymore_.  He wriggled his shoulders against the hard back of the chair, and got comfortable enough that his eyes slowly blinked shut again.

He wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or remembering.  But whatever it was, he could see that all seven of them were out of town together for some reason – chasing bank robbers, maybe, or that time they were hunting down the man who’d tried to kill Josiah for something he’d done down in Mexico.  They were bedding down for the evening, all save Vin, who’d volunteered to take the first watch.

He’d been next in line for the watch, and Vin had shaken his shoulder to get him up.  “There’s still some coffee in the pot,” Vin said, then he rolled himself into his blankets and fell asleep almost immediately.

JD had gotten up, yawning, and pouring out the dregs of coffee from the pot.  _I’ll start a new one in a few minutes,_ he’d reminded himself.  Then, stretching out the kinks from his back, he started walking toward the outcrop where Vin had been the past few hours.  Every so often, he turned back around, casting his eyes over their camp, because you couldn’t stare out at nothing watching for something and not start to think you were seeing something that wasn’t really there.

And eventually, he noticed that there were only five bedrolls occupied.  _Strange,_ he thought, straightening.  _I didn’t see or hear anyone get up…_ Then, on a closer look, he saw it wasn’t because someone had gotten up and wandered off; it was because, including his empty blankets, there were only 6 bedrolls altogether.

 _No, we’re all here, I saw everyone else getting ready to bed down…_ There was his own spot, then Buck’s, then Chris’s…

 _Wait,_ JD thought, trying to bring the other side of their camp into focus with only the faint glow from the fire’s embers for light.  _Is… is he sharin’ his blankets with someone?_   The place where he’d seen Chris spreading out his blankets seemed… bigger somehow than the others’, like there were two of them there together…

“Hey, JD, wake up!”

JD twitched as Buck called his name, and nearly fell out of his chair.  “I’m awake!” he blurted, then his brain caught up as Buck started laughing, and he scowled at him.  “That wasn’t very nice, Buck.”

“No,” Buck agreed through his chuckles.  “But it sure was funny.”

“Only for you,” JD muttered, crossing his arms and staring out over the street.

“Aw, come on, JD,” Buck said, his mustache stretched in a grin, “you know if you sleep all day, you won’t get any sleep tonight!”

He didn’t bother to dignify that with a response.  Instead, he focused on his dream – or revelation, maybe.  On the night he’d been dreaming about, he _had_ stood the second watch, but he couldn’t remember thinking those thoughts.  _Is that stuff that I really noticed?_ he asked himself.  _Or am I just… thinking those thoughts now and not_ really _remembering right?_

Buck had fallen silent beside him, leaning on the post and staring down the street.  He was still grinning cheerfully.

“Hey, Buck?” JD called softly.

There must have been something in his voice, because Buck’s grin faded into a more serious look.  “Yeah, JD?”

He opened his mouth, about to ask… and then closed it, the words bottling up in his throat.  _What am I gonna ask, anyway?_ he thought, shaking his head.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Buck asked, his tone soft.

He just couldn’t resist Buck when he said anything in _that_ voice.  “Do you… d’you think Chris and Ezra like each other?” he said, pushing the words out all in a rush.  It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to ask, but he just didn’t have the words for _that_.

For a second, Buck seemed to have no expression at all, like JD’s question had taken him by surprise.  Then he smiled a little.  “I reckon so,” he said slowly.  “I mean, we all like each other, don’t we?  And if we all like each other, that means Chris and Ezra like each other, too.”

After a moment, JD nodded.  “Yeah,” he replied, “I guess.”

Buck had answered his question – just not the one he’d actually asked.  That moment of stillness on Buck’s expressive face had somehow satisfied what JD couldn’t quite put into words.

There really _was_ more to Chris and Ezra sharing blankets than just warmth and safety.

***  
July 10, 2017

**Author's Note:**

> Written to fill the prompt [JD, OW, he found himself wondering if x and x sharing blankets meant something a little more than warmth and safety](http://mag7daybook.dreamwidth.org/486605.html?thread=4467917#cmt4467917) on [mag7daybook](http://mag7daybook.dreamwidth.org/).


End file.
